Keeping To Your Oath
by Nyodrite
Summary: Kakashi is four years old and waiting in the Academy library- which was really just an empty room with Academy Student-appropriate reading materials- for his father to get him when he stumbles across a scroll titled "So You Want To Be A Wizard?" hidden in the small space between the bookcase and the wall.


Kakashi is four years old and waiting in the Academy library- which was really just an empty room with Academy Student-appropriate reading materials- for his father to get him when he stumbles across a scroll titled **_So You Want To Be A Wizard?_** hidden in the small space between the bookcase and the wall. The scroll isn't anything special, it looks like any other though it's paper seems to be yellowing with age, the title though was odd- more then just the _title_ , the words were written as if the writer had a hobby of calligraphy and in dark ink with lighter flecks, as if written with ink made from the night sky.

"So you want to be a wizard?" He mumbled, curious as he grabs the scroll, blinking when he find it weighs more then it's size- small enough to fit into the Academy's practice weapon pouches- suggested.

It's ridiculous, there isn't anything a shinobi would need to know about being a 'wizard' and it was more then likely to be a prank, but his fingers were untying the bands that kept the scroll closed because... _if, if it's real, if I could learn, then-_ the bands went around his left wrist before he was slowly unrolling the scroll in his lap.

 ** _Wizardry is one of the most ancient and misunderstood arts._** The very start of the scroll's text read, **_Its public image for centuries has been one of a mysterious pursuit, practiced in occult surrounding, and usually used at the peril of one's soul. The modern wizard, who works with tools more advanced than bat's blood..._ ** It was very _odd_ to read but also very _interesting_ because, even if it seemed to merely be a foreword to what the rest of the text would be, it hinted of the abilities of magic and that there were already wizards in the world- it even ended with a cheery, **_Good Luck!_**

 _Then maybe I-_

There was a break in the text, if it were a book then Kakashi thought it would be signifying the start of a new chapter, especially since the next part started with a line of bold writing- **PRELIMINARY DETERMINATIONS** \- before going to the regular text; **_An aptitude for wizardry requires more then just the desire to practice the Art. There are certain inborn tendencies, and some acquired ones, that enable a person to become a wizard..._**

On it went, almost like a quiz that had him making mental notes that were all but forgotten when he got to **_Wizards love words. Most of them read a good deal, and indeed one strong sign of a potential wizard is the inability to get to sleep without reading something first. But their love for and fluency with words is what makes wizards a force to be reckoned with. Their ability to convince a piece of the world – a tree, say, or a stone – that it's not what it thinks it is, that it's something else, is the very heart of wizardry. Words skillfully used, the persuasive voice, the persuading mind, are the wizard's most basic tools. With them a wizard can stop a tidal wave, talk a tree out of growing, or into it- freeze fire, burn rain-_ even slow down the death of the Universe.**

 ** _The last, of course, is the reason there are wizards._**

"Kakashi-!"

He jerked at his name being called, calming when he recognized the voice, "Here, Tōsan!" He called, hurriedly rolling the scroll up and securing it closed.

Kakashi had a moment of indecision before tucking the scroll into the weapons pouch that held his practice weapons and then his father was there, leaning through the doorway to look at him, "Of course," his father laughed, amused and so _fond_ , "I don't know why I didn't come here first. Ready to go?"

"Yeah," he nodded, scrambling to his feet and hurrying to his father.

Tōsan snatched him from the floor and settled Kakashi onto his shoulders in one easy move before turning around and leaving, "What do think about _Noriko's_ for dinner?"

"Not _Snack Akimichi_?" he wondered, it was where they usually went when they ate out after all.

His father's hair rubbed against him when the man shook his head slightly, "It's your first day at the Academy, I figure we can go and celebrate by eating somewhere new."

"Alright," Kakashi agreed, falling into silent as his father spoke about his shift on gate-duty, content to listen.

 _Death of the Universe,_ bounced around his thoughts, an unnerving premonition for something likely to not be real. If it were real, and thus magic was, it was something Kakashi would face in order to learn magic because, if he could learn to use magic and use it _well_ , then...

 _Maybe I can go with Tōsan when he has to leave on missions._


End file.
